Could too much sugar be deadly? The biggest study of its kind suggests the answer is yes, at least when it comes to heart problems.

It doesn’t take all that much extra sugar, hidden in many processed foods, to substantially raise the risk, the researchers found, and most Americans eat more than the safest amount.

For someone who normally eats 2,000 calories daily, consuming two 12-ounce cans of soda substantially increases the risk. For most American adults, sodas and other sugary drinks are the main source of added sugar.

Previous studies have linked diets high in sugar with increased risks for non-fatal heart problems, and with obesity, which also can lead to heart trouble. But in the new study, obesity didn’t explain the link between sugary diets and death. That link was found even in normal-weight people who ate a lot of added sugar.

Lead author Quanhe Yang of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it’s the first nationally representative study to examine the issue and called the results sobering. The study was published in Monday’s issue of JAMA Internal Medicine.

— Associated Press

INDIANA

Killer who fled Mich. prison caught

A convicted killer who peeled a hole in two fences with his hands to escape from a Michigan prison before abducting a woman and fleeing to Indiana was captured Monday evening after a chase, authorities said.

Officials were stunned by the brazen escape Sunday night of Michael David Elliot, who had a record of good behavior during his 20 years in custody. He wore a white civilian kitchen uniform to evade security and blend in with snow at the Ionia Correctional Facility in western Michigan, a prisons spokesman said.

Indiana State Police said Elliot was captured in LaPorte County after a police chase, which began after authorities there got a report of a car stolen from a factory in the city of LaPorte.

How exactly Elliot was able to get out of the Michigan prison remains unclear. Fences were equipped with motion sensors to alert guards. The fences also carry electric current to shock anyone that touches them.

Elliot was serving life in prison without parole for killing four people in 1993.

— Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Man kills one, then

self, at business park

A gunman killed another person and himself at a Washington business park Monday in an attack that briefly prompted a lockdown at a nearby school.

The suspect, described as a man in his 60s, was found dead in a car near the Benjamin Moore Paint distribution center in Vancouver, Wash., police said.

Officers had said earlier that they were searching for the attacker, and locked down the elementary school as a precaution.

Police have identified the shooter and the person he killed, but will not release their names or their relationship to each other until their families have been notified.

— Associated Press

Execution postponed over drug: Louisiana is postponing an execution for at least 90 days after the state abruptly changed its lethal-injection protocol last week. The state corrections department said it agreed to the delay for Christopher Sepulvado, who killed his 6-year-old stepson two decades ago. The state had trouble purchasing the drug that it said would be used for Sepulvado’s injection. So the corrections department announced last week that it was switching to a two-drug combination used in Ohio. Sepulvado’s lawyers wanted more time to study the new execution plans. A federal judge will hold a trial about the constitutionality of the new execution protocol on April 7.

Comments our editors find particularly useful or relevant are displayed in Top Comments, as are comments by users with these badges: . Replies to those posts appear here, as well as posts by staff writers.

To pause and restart automatic updates, click "Live" or "Paused". If paused, you'll be notified of the number of additional comments that have come in.

Comments our editors find particularly useful or relevant are displayed in Top Comments, as are comments by users with these badges: . Replies to those posts appear here, as well as posts by staff writers.